Oppo Find X2 review

Android 10 with ColorOS 7.1 on top

The Find X2, similarly to its Pro brother, runs Android 10 with Oppo's latest ColorOS 7.1 - itself a minor update over the 7.0 release. 7 does bring changes over 6 and as we saw on the Find X2 Pro those include a shift towards a more stock look, though you still won't be mistaking the Oppo for a Pixel.

You get a choice of Standard mode with no app drawer and all your apps on the Homescreens, a two-tiered solution (called Drawer mode) with homescreens and an app drawer, and then a Simple mode with large widely-spaced icons that also changes the system text to what can best be described as huge.

The icons themselves are highly-customizable - you can pick between three preset styles, there's a custom option for choosing from several shapes and corner styles, and there's an Art+ option, where you get Oppo-customized icons for third-party apps to better fir the system iconography (some 200 of those, according to Oppo press materials). We've seen those on Realmes as well and it's one of the more extensive icon customization packages out there.

From this homescreen menu you can also adjust the speed of the app animations and also set the swipe down gesture on the homescreen to bring down the notification shade instead of the global search which was the only option on ColorOS until very recently.

Homescreen • Homescreen options

The notification shade has been retouched to what are now rounded squares for the quick toggles as opposed to circles, and the highlight color is now green all-around where it used to be different colors for some specific settings. One thing that hasn't changed is the annoying limitation that dismissing a notification only works when swiping the card left or right - it can't work in both directions. It is a setting, and you get to choose the direction, but you can't have it both ways. You do get used to it in time but it feels unnatural at first coming from another Android phone.

A system-wide dark mode is available, and it can be engaged permanently or according to a schedule. It'll invoke supported apps' dark themes too, but you can also enforce Dark Mode on third-party apps which don't have it natively.

Notification shade • Toggles • Dark mode • Task switcher

The general settings menu has also undergone some changes - all the sub-menus get their icons, which are different in shape and colors, so it's easier to navigate and find what you want. For some settings, though, you're still better off using the search field - why are the navigation gestures buried under Convenience tools? And to make things even more complicated, the sub-menu is called Navigation Buttons.

For navigation, you get three main options. The first one, and the one we prefer, is the standard Android 10 navigation (Swipe Gestures from Both Sides), which employs the side edges for going Back while upward swipes from the bottom take you Home. What Oppo does better than Google in this respect is letting you quickly switch between the two last used apps if you swipe in from the sides and hold - Android 10 doesn't have that functionality built-in. Then there's the good old virtual nav bar and the More option, which will take you to Oppo's Swipe-up gestures.

Settings menu • More settings • Navigation options

In the Display and Brightness sub-menu, you can find the so-called Low Brightness Flicker-Free Eye Care feature, or in other words, DC dimming. It's supposed to reduce the invisible flickering inherent to OLED panels and thus reduce the eye fatigue for people who may be sensitive to it. Just 'Eye Care', on the other hand, reduces the blue light emissions and comes in handy at night before going to bed. Color temperature adjustment, font size, font style, display size, and themes are also adjusted in this menu.

Display menu

The fingerprint reader setup is business as usual. Several taps are required to get you started, followed by a prompt to adjust your finger position with several more taps needed to complete. The subsequent recognition is then fast and reliable.

There's one niggle we have with it, and it's that it's not always on. If you take the phone out of a pocket or lift it off a table, it engages, but if the phone is just lying there and you want to unlock it, you need to tap on the screen first - more like bump it gently as it is accelerometer-based, best as we can tell. A double tap will also work (a setting that's off by default, mind you), but then you'd be waking the phone completely.

Fingerprint reader setup

Oppos have had screen-off gestures for as far as we can remember, and the Find X2 is no exception. You can draw different letters on the locked screen to launch an app or use the music control gestures to control your music player.

The so-called Auto Switch to Ear Receiver gesture is particularly helpful if you use Bluetooth devices often. The feature allows you to pick up your phone normally without switching to the earpiece manually. Meaning, if the phone is connected to your Bluetooth speaker or headphones, it would normally answer on the connected device, but when you pick up the phone and put it close to your ear, the phone will know that you want to take your call using the earpiece. It works great, and we find that one to be exceptionally useful.

Screen-off gestures and other motion and gesture-related features

The thing is, despite having so many gestures and actions, the Oppo Find X2 does not have any non-touch method of launching the camera.

The Find X2 doesn't have 'the largest X-axis motor in android phones on the market' that you get on the Pro and that we really enjoyed. The Z-axis motor of the X2 can't quite match the subtlety of the one on the Pro, but it does offer decent feedback.

Synthetic benchmarks

The Find X2 has the Snapdragon 865 chipset at its heart, as is the norm in the high-end segment this year - you'd find Qualcomm's top-tier SoC in every Android flagship that isn't a Huawei or a Galaxy, but also in a lot of Galaxies as well. The phone can be had in one of three RAM and storage configurations, though not all of them available everywhere - 8GB/128GB, 8GB/256GB, and 12GB/256GB (or review unit). RAM is LPDDR5 while the storage is UFS 3.0.

We didn't get any real surprises after running our customary benchmark suite. Snapdragon devices are relatively tightly packed this year across all load scenarios, the Exynos powered Galaxies are mostly keeping up and it's only the Kirin 990-equipped Huawei P40 Pro that's trailing by a little.

GeekBench 5.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
  3503
• vivo iQOO 3 5G
  3402
• OnePlus 8
  3399
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  3387
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  3374
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  3331
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1440p)
  3274
• Oppo Find X2 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  3269
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1080p)
  3224
• Huawei P40 Pro
  3197
• Realme X50 Pro
  3175
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  2703
• Oppo Reno Ace
  2627
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  2154

GeekBench 5.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
  1332
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  929
• vivo iQOO 3 5G
  928
• OnePlus 8
  919
• Realme X50 Pro
  911
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  905
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1440p)
  902
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  902
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1080p)
  901
• Oppo Find X2 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  900
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  886
• Huawei P40 Pro
  780
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  776
• Oppo Reno Ace
  619

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  595246
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1440p)
  594169
• Oppo Find X2 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  593717
• Realme X50 Pro
  592447
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1080p)
  590454
• vivo iQOO 3 5G
  575601
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  573276
• OnePlus 8
  564708
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  557056
• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
  536883
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  500114
• Huawei P40 Pro
  496356
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  489371
• Realme X2 Pro
  467653
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  438622
• Oppo Reno Ace
  434063

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
  120
• OnePlus 8
  88
• Oppo Find X2 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  87
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1440p)
  86
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1080p)
  86
• Realme X50 Pro
  86
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  86
• vivo iQOO 3 5G
  86
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  86
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  86
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  85
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  85
• Realme X2 Pro
  78
• Huawei P40 Pro
  75
• Oppo Reno Ace
  72
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  68

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  75
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  75
• vivo iQOO 3 5G
  61
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1080p)
  60
• Realme X50 Pro
  60
• OnePlus 8
  60
• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
  60
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  59
• Realme X2 Pro
  57
• Oppo Reno Ace
  56
• Huawei P40 Pro
  52
• Oppo Find X2 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  43
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1440p)
  43
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  43
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  43
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  38

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
  67
• OnePlus 8
  52
• Oppo Find X2 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  51
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1440p)
  51
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1080p)
  51
• Realme X50 Pro
  51
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  51
• vivo iQOO 3 5G
  51
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  51
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  51
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  50
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  50
• Realme X2 Pro
  47
• Huawei P40 Pro
  44
• Oppo Reno Ace
  44
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  43

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
  57
• OnePlus 8
  46
• Realme X50 Pro
  45
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1080p)
  42
• vivo iQOO 3 5G
  42
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  42
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  42
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  41
• Realme X2 Pro
  37
• Oppo Reno Ace
  35
• Huawei P40 Pro
  31
• Oppo Find X2 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  25
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1440p)
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  25
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  24
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  24

Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme X50 Pro
  30
• OnePlus 8
  30
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1080p)
  29
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  29
• vivo iQOO 3 5G
  28
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  26
• Realme X2 Pro
  25
• Oppo Reno Ace
  23
• Oppo Find X2 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  17
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1440p)
  17
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  17
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  14
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  13

Aztek OpenGL ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  32
• Realme X50 Pro
  31
• OnePlus 8
  31
• vivo iQOO 3 5G
  29
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  29
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1080p)
  28
• Realme X2 Pro
  26
• Oppo Reno Ace
  26
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  19
• Oppo Find X2 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  18
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1440p)
  18
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  17
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  16

3DMark SSE OpenGL ES 3.1 1440p

Higher is better

• OnePlus 8
  7290
• vivo iQOO 3 5G
  7261
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  7250
• Realme X50 Pro
  7221
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1080p)
  7193
• Oppo Find X2 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  7159
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  7127
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1440p)
  6912
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  6819
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  6735
• Huawei P40 Pro
  6062
• Oppo Reno Ace
  5392
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  4984
• Realme X2 Pro
  4726
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro
  4432

3DMark SSE Vulkan 1440p

Higher is better

• OnePlus 8
  6720
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  6678
• vivo iQOO 3 5G
  6675
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1080p)
  6581
• Oppo Find X2 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  6526
• Realme X50 Pro
  6472
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  6425
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  6354
• Samsung Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  6311
• Oppo Find X2 (120Hz, 1440p)
  6302
• Huawei P40 Pro
  5637
• Realme X2 Pro
  5337
• Oppo Reno Ace
  4905
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  4763
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro
  4233

The Find X2 kept its cool after repeated benchmark runs and had little to no drop in scores either. That's the same behavior we observed on the Pro, so clearly Oppo has come up with a thermally efficient solution this year. The subjective experience we had was similarly positive and the phone breezes effortlessly through whatever task you throw at it.